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Friday, June 01, 2012

A grand ole time

Earlier this month, my parents, Grandeur and Grandest, came to visit us in Cleveland. They were only here for a short time but we all had fun (I hope!).

They arrived on Saturday afternoon, and we had panzanella, one of our favorite summer dishes. Since we only have the two bedroom apartment, they stayed in our deluxe luxury suite: a queen-size air mattress in the mostly unused portion of our large living room! My mother, who gets motion sick very easily, actually ended up on the couch because the mattress was too wobbly (I have this same problem!), so they were both troopers.

The next day was Mother's Day, and we both got lovely presents. Because that's just how we roll, we had arranged for my dad to speak in church that day, and he did a great job (people keep telling me how funny he was, OF COURSE!). Church was a bit crazy, since it was the first Sunday with the husband as the bishop, but we had a great day. I got all kinds of treats and presents from J and E (I LOVE having kids in Primary--it's great!) and J even managed not to eat them all before we got home!

The next day, we headed to Chagrin Falls, about 15 minutes away. It was so much fun! The falls are impressive and very accessible. You can even climb right up to them if you're not traveling with toddlers. But even for the accident prone, there is a wooden stairway with a perfect and close view, where we took these pictures:

Even the spillway is fun; there's a park right beside it with a small playground and ducks and the largest dog I have ever seen! I brought Baby E over to see the behemoth, and he turned the corner and said "Oh, a bear!" I think he was almost right. This dog's head was bigger than my torso. And his fur was so soft, J just stood by him and ran his arms through his fur over and over again and smiled. Baby E even got up enough courage to pet the giant one, even though he prefers his dogs at arms' length:

Afterwards, we ate popcorn balls at the legendary popcorn shop right above the falls and then headed to Yours Truly for lunch, because they have the all important train table. And the kids were good...for a little while and then they melted down, of course. So, home for naps for everyone! Later in the visit, my parents took the boys in the stroller to the library while the husband and I headed for our storage unit to pull out some much needed boxes. They went to the playground next door and played with the puzzles and checked out some books and had a great time...until another melt down! So baths and bed for everyone again! Life with toddlers and preschoolers is quite the roller coaster

Sadly, Grandeur and Grandest had to leave the next day and continue their month long national tour. It was soo nice to have my parents visiting! We had good food, good conversation, and a fun if all too short visit. The boys were very sad to see them go, particularly J, as was I. But we will be out their way very soon in August. Hooray!

1 comment:

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